An Okie teacher banished to the Midwest.
"Education is not the filling a bucket but the lighting of a fire."-- William Butler Yeats

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Tuesday Musing 10: the cost of overwork

For your consideration: have you ever had to resort to a "mental health day" merely to allow yourself to catch up with rest --or, even worse, to catch up with grading? How often do you indulge the need?

Myself, I could certainly use one now. That extra hour of sleep this weekend was not even a drop in the bucket.

7 Comments:

Taking one Friday. We are off on Thursday with staff development scheduled for Friday. Most of the building is taking off...we're exhausted and it has nothing to do with lack of sleep, we are mentally exhausted.

I usually allow myself one or two mental health days a year. I take them after some sort of "event" like getting through the volleyball season (I coach), or for surviving 7th grade camp, or after the science fair.

Yesterday was my day - the worst part is that I resent having to use a personal day just to get caught up with grading. My planning time is sucked up with yet another meeting, making copies, filling out paperwork, and returning calls and emails. We had a full-day PDD last week, and my district fills up the entire day with useless BS meetings. "Wellness and stress relief"- yeah, well, my stress level would be lower if you'd actually let me get some work done today!

One of my "medical team" is located in a town about 100 miles away. I used to schedule a late morning appt. and Oh my, look, the pro baseball team in the next town is playing a day game THAT SAME DAY! Oh well, if I am gonna beso n e a r there for my appt., I might as well go to the game too. Oh, but then, I have to get dinner....and I wonder if there is anything I'd like to read at that bookstore.....yep, mental health day.

What's On the Bookshelf? (And stacked on the floor, and in the loo, and next to my bed, and in my backpack....)

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace

The Stripping of the Altars, by Eamonn Duffy

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher

The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde

Columbine, by Dave Cullen

The Forever War, by Dexter Filkins

Here, Bullet, by Brian Turner

Random Thoughts

"Read-ity read read read."-- The Ramblin' Educat

"Personally, I think for democracy to exist, opposition is key. History seems to bear that out. One sign you're doing a good job is when the only argument the extablishment can muster is "shut up" and variations on that theme.-- NYC Educator

"The only thing worse than having no taste is having no shame."-- via Mamacita

"The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse is because you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery & Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment."-- Molly Ivins (via Mike in Texas!)

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."-- Dean Wormer, Animal House

"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."-- John Steinbeck